Strawberry Mani!

So I knew this was going to happen. I was going to get too caught up in other things and neglect this blog, but I'm back now. School's over and I'm not working that much, so I plan on fulfilling my previous promise of posting at least one thing every week! Today I have my strawberry manicure! For this I used Wet N Wild's Wild Shine #414A, (it's a red that has a slight berry tint to it), NYC's #298 High Line Green, and any black would do, but I used Sally Hansen's Xtreme Wear #370 Black Out. First I painted them two coats of the red and waited for them to completely dry! Next I just painted on green tips, then I used a paint brush to do the points, (again, I did two coats, but it could take you more depending on how much you use. I sort of globbed it on, which made it a little lumpy, but my top coat smoothed it out). Finally, I used a paintbrush, (but you could use a toothpick) to do the seeds. I did two coats, but I really depends on what black you use! Of course, a top coat to seal it all in and smooth everything out and done! It's a great mani for the summer!

Beauty PSA

So I'm going to start posting these Beauty PSAs to keep you all updated on some of the beauty sales and events going on! Right now, Sephora is having a VIB only event where you get 15% off (in-store and online) and an in-store preview event, where you get a Sephora umbrella, sample bag, and some other little goodies! If you're a VIB you should've gotten the email with all the deets!

Caviar Mani

If you've been on Pinterest lately, I'm sure you've seen the "Caviar" mani making the rounds... It's that tiny little microbead mani. I did this mani back in October, and everybody loved it, so I decided to do it again! In October I did a gunmetal polish with silver beads to go with my outfit then, and this weekend I did black polish with gold beads, to match my outfit now. Everybody loved it again. :) Since I was only using the microbeads as my accent nails, I did them first so that I wouldn't mess up my other nails if they were wet. I used Sally Hansen's #310 Gilty Pleasure as the base for the gold microbeads. I did two coats of this. Immediately after I did my second coat, I dipped my finger into my container of microbeads. (You can dip them or sprinkle them. I prefer to sprinkle because I feel like it just makes it non-clumpy. Like, when I dipped my nail, there was a ton of extra beads stuck on it, which are easy to remove and flatten, but it's just extra work. If you are going to sprinkle though, be sure to do it over a plate or something to catch those little buggers! They seriously go all over.) After I got rid of all of the excess beads, I did an generous coat of my Out the Door top coat. In the future I think I would try using a different top coat, maybe one that doesn't fill in a bunch, but you don't even have to use a topcoat if you don't want. I just feel it seals it in better so they don't fall off as easily. For the rest of my fingers I used Wet N Wild's Fastdry in #229C Ebony Hates Chris. (It truly is fast drying. Like, it's amazing.) I only used one coat of this and it gave me a fantastic opaqueness. You really don't need a top coat for it because it shines really nice, but I did anyways. Hope you guys try this mani out!! It's truly eye catching and everybody will want to touch them!

These are the microbeads. I got mine from Michael's and I think they were about $4.00. Mine were in the aisle near stamping supplies. They come in loads of different colors and also in little mini packs with the different colors.

You can see where some of my beads fell off after a long day of work.... Super easy to fix though. Just take a toothpick, dab it with some top coat, dab it on the nail, put the toothpick in the microbeads, and place them where they're needed.

Hunger Games Mani

Happy Hunger Games! So I haven't read the books (I'm thinking about it), but I'm super excited for the movie to come out tomorrow! For this mani I used OPI Cajun Shrimp. Make sure it's super, super dry before doing the next steps! (Like a couple of hours, at least.)  Okay so then I printed out the mockingjay icon and printed it out on a laser jet printer (the size of it was .38 in x .4 in). Then I cut it out and got rid of as much excess paper as possible, laid it on my nail, and used a paper towel with rubbing alcohol on it. Rub the paper towel on the cutout for like two minutes and press down hard to make sure the image transfers (why the nail needs to be completely dry). Remove the paper. Now, it most likely won't be a solid image, (mine wasn't) so what I did next was used a tiny paintbrush and black acrylic paint to go over the image and define it. Top coat to top it off and you're done!

*I had the little strip of holo stickers at the tip of my nail from the day before and just left it on (not that I would know how to easily take it off). The strips are from Sally Beauty Supplies and you can get them here.
**Oh! Also another little note: I was stupid. I should've flipped the image on the computer so that it would turn out correctly, so I would suggest doing that.
***Another stupid move: I could gone over it twice to make it really solid, but in real life you can't really see the unsolidness.

Pink Leopard Mani

This manicure is easy. Go ahead, give me your crazy looks that I got when I told people that, but it really is! (Not to mention, there are tons of color combos you can use!) For this mani I used Sinful Colors' Easy Going as the base and two coats gave me my solid blush color. (I love this color, by the way. Like, love.) Then for the spots I used Sally Hansen's Nail Art Pens in black and coral! (The coral is from the new summer collection that came out recently and they had several other cute colors too!) I really like Sally Hansen's pens because if you mess up, they come off easily with water and your mistake is gone! (Also, this is why it's really important to use a top coat, otherwise your designs will be washed off easily!) Okay so first I did my base color and waited for it to completely dry. Then, I made odd shaped ovals with the coral pen and then I used my black pen and did two lines sort of on either side of each odd shape! See? Easy! Give it a try and let me know how it goes!

Leap Day Mani!

Happy Leap Day!! In honor of this extra day, I'm giving you all an extra mani! (Like one mani doubles as the base for another, sort of thing.) Okay, so I recently bought Sinful Colors' neon pink #920 and I was SO excited to finally find a neon that I liked! (The other "neons" that I found before just weren't that bright and, well, neon.) I did two coats of it and it was totally solid. Also, it dries somewhat matte, so that's good if you're into that. (I prefer shiny.) Anyways, I couldn't deal with just plain neon on my nails, so I did one coat of China Glaze's Fairy Dust... it sparkles so much! So I left it that way for like a day, but it was still too neony for me (I know, I'm ridiculous), so I decided to pair it with Ulta's Smoke Screen. I taped my pieces of tape diagonally across each nail, did one coat of the charcoal, let it dry, then did a second coat and peeled off the tape right after I applied the second coat. (I waited to remove the tape after the second coat on one nail and it got too gunky and just made it gross and uneven.) Did one coat of my top coat to seal it all and done! It might sound complicated, but it truly isn't. I got several compliments on them, with one girl even saying she was going to do them the same! Hope you all enjoyed your extra day!

Hehe.. get it? Because they leap? I know, I'm a dork.

Oscars Nails

So today is the Academy Awards and I fully celebrate them. I plan on plopping down at five with my popcorn and computer, ready to comment on all of the celebs' outfits. (And obviously I'll be wearing my Oscars shirt, duh.) Anyways, I did a little ode to the Oscars on my nails this weekend, and let me tell you, everybody loved them. They are SO simple though, it's ridiculous. All it is is black polish (I used two coats of Wet N Wild's Fast Dry #229C Ebony Hates Chris) and two coats of Milani's Jewel FX #531 Gold. I got soo many compliments on it from complete strangers!!

 

 

These pictures really don't do the glitter justice at all.. It shines so, so much. I love it.

My First Post!

Oooh first post, how exciting! I always feel like the first post of something has to be important, profound, let's people know about you and lalala. This probably won't be that. I will let you know about myself, though. I'm Rachel and I love beauty things. Okay, done. Oh, you want to know more? Okay, okay, if you insist. I'm really obsessed with nail polish, so that's what you'll be seeing most on here, but I also looove my makeup, especially smokey eyes. I also like doing my hair, though mine does not cooperate with me that much, as it is a hot, frizzy mess, but I make it work. (It's great for messy hairstyles, which I adore.) I also love glitter, chocolate, fashion, grammar, and steak. As I'm sure you already see, I'm very random, but whatevs. I like to try to really add my "voice" to my writings, so hopefully that comes through. My promise to you (and sort of myself): I will upload at least one post a week. I'm hoping for, and it most likely will be, more, but sometimes life gets in the way and blah, blah. Okay, I'm done! Hope you enjoy my blog, I'm excited!!